About

The NEMBC’s mission

• Advocate for and support ethnic and multicultural community broadcasting
• Maintain and help connect people with their ancestry, language and culture
• Be a voice for multiculturalism in Australia
• Counter racism in Australian society
• Contribute to media diversity in Australia
• Operate with integrity and in a manner that is ethical, professional, responsive and self-reliant

The importance of ethnic community broadcasting in Australia

In every state capital there is a large multilingual community radio station and there are hundreds of general community radio stations in cities and towns broadcasting multilingual and multicultural programs.

This unique and extensive network of locally produced programs provides vital support for Australia’s diverse communities.

Community radio forms a large part of the Australian media landscape. National surveys reveal that:
• 57% of Australians tuning in to community radio each month
• over 100 different languages are broadcast from 130 community radio stations across Australia
• in an average week the sector produces more than 2000 hours of community language programs

Lobbying and policy development

The NEMBC runs a national lobby campaign targeting the federal budget every year to maintain support and recognition for the ethnic community broadcasting sector, and increase the present level of funding.

The NEMBC maintains a political voice in Australia by making policy submissions to the government on matters relating to community broadcasting, multiculturalism, multilingualism, media diversity, human rights and social inclusion.

Programs and services

The NEMBC supports, assists and provides opportunities to develop multilingual and multicultural community broadcasting around the country through its programs and services, including:
• annual national conference
• multicultural broadcasting awards
• our tri-annual magazine, The Ethnic Broadcaster
• training, workshops and forums

We have a number of projects that focus on increasing participation from youth, women and new and emerging communities. The NEMBC has Youth and Women’s Committees with representatives in each state and territory and a full-time Project Officer managing the projects proposed by these committees.

We also provide assistance and advice to all ethnic community broadcasters on broadcasting and policy issues, sector information, training and technical changes.